Together
by deceptive-serenade
Summary: Not all couples are exempt from a normal first time. Well, normal, as in not necessarily that great. Non-explicit, no real smut. Percy/Annabeth.


A/N: There are mature themes in this fic - not explicit, but mature and a very realistic view of sex. If you're not ready for that, please hit that back button. Otherwise, enjoy :)

* * *

**Together**

Not all couples are exempt from a normal first time. Well, normal, as in not necessarily that great.

**(one-shot)**

"That _sucked._"

Percy was still panting beside Annabeth, and she could see a sheen of sweat glistening on his face in the moonlight. She felt a little bad at her outburst, but she couldn't take it back now. Besides, she was being honest. Wasn't that supposed to be important in a relationship?

As it was, he looked more confused than hurt. He turned to look at her, frowning. "What?"

"That sucked." Annabeth was definitely not being the prime example of sensitivity, but she didn't care. She crossed her arms tightly against her chest. "You know. Sex."

"It _sucked_?"

"It sucked."

"Oh." He slowly caught his breath. She'd made things awkward, and she knew he didn't really know how to respond. But she was a little too upset to care.

It was just that things were really building up between this – to _this_, right? This was supposed to be one of the most important and life-changing aspects of their relationship. The first time they had sex was supposed to enforce something between Annabeth and Percy and make them love each other forever and ever. Some shit like that.

That was definitely not happening at the moment.

"Okay," Percy said uncomfortably. He threw out the condom before he turned on his side and propped himself up on his elbow. "Umm. What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know." Annabeth shifted and pulled the sheets closer. No one was going to interrupt them – Percy's mom and Paul had gone away for a weekend – but she suddenly felt too exposed. "It was just… _bad._"

"Yeah, I got that part." Percy pinched the bridge of his nose. She wondered whether he was taking it personally yet. "But _what_ was bad?"

"I mean… it really hurt." She wiggled uneasily again, a little painfully. Annabeth had read that it didn't always hurt for the first time, especially if she was relaxed. She'd figured she'd be relaxed enough with Percy – because it was _Percy_ – but apparently not.

Something in his expression hardened. "You said it was okay to keep going."

"Yeah, it wasn't," she confirmed sheepishly.

"And you tell me _now_…" He groaned, annoyed.

Annabeth shrugged. "I just wanted to get it over with."

"We should have _stopped._" He suddenly realized what she'd said. "Wait, you just wanted to get it over with?"

"Like I said, it hurts."

"It _still_ hurts?" he exclaimed. Annabeth was amazed that she was being tactless about all of this, but Percy's eyes filled with worry at her slip-up confession. He slid his hands onto her hips over the blankets, and she shivered. She still wasn't used to his touch. She nodded, face burning.

"I'm really sore," she confessed.

"But you'll be okay, right?" he asked worriedly. "It's no worse than any of our injuries fighting monsters."

"Yeah, yeah," she said, averting her eyes.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'll be fine."

"Then what is your problem?" he burst out. _Now_ he was hurt, and now she was guilty. "Why can't you just tell me why it was so bad?"

"I did just tell you!" Annabeth snapped, glaring at him.

"It could've been better if you told me it hurt so badly -"

"Oh, come on," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes and sitting up. She made sure she was still wrapped in the sheets, clutching them against herself. "You're eighteen. You should knows these kinds of things."

"Right," he said dryly. "With all my experience to back me up - oh wait."

She glared at him. "It's common sense."

"It is not!" he protested. He was beginning to turn a little red. "How am I supposed to know what you like, anyway? We've never done this before."

"I don't know," Annabeth spluttered, hitching the sheets up again. "You're such a Seaweed Brain, I should've known -"

"Don't turn this around on me -"

"It's not my fault!"

"How is it mine?" Percy asked in disbelief, sitting up as well. She tried not to be distracted by his bare torso, the sheets only covering the lower half. Barely.

_Gods._

"I don't know," she stammered. "It was just - it wasn't what I expected."

Percy rolled his eyes. "You and your expectations."

"Hey -"

"Look, we won't try again for a bit," he said, looking as though he hated himself for saying it. "It's obvious you've got issues with it that you won't tell me, since I've seen you naked a few times, and you're hiding behind the fucking sheet."

Annabeth grinded her teeth furiously for a moment before whipping the sheets off and stomping to the bathroom to clean up. She heard Percy groan just before she slammed the door.

She knew she was being overdramatic. She was _never_ overdramatic.

But she couldn't help it. Physical intimacy was one of those things she felt insecure about. Fighting monsters? She could do that any day. Sex? Not so much.

Annabeth cleaned herself off and splashed some water on her face to cool down. She wasn't being fair. She couldn't blame it on Percy when he was right - she hadn't told him to stop when it hurt. She hadn't been very helpful, and Percy was nothing but careful the entire time.

Maybe it was just that she thought she'd be the exception to pain, as ridiculous as it sounded. Or perhaps it had nothing to do with the pain and more with the fact that sex had just turned out to be sex and nothing else. No overwhelming feeling of love or connection. Just sex.

And she was blaming Percy, because her pride was getting in the way. _Again._

She needed to apologize - if he was still talking to her.

When she was finally calm and came out of the bathroom, she saw Percy tucking the corner of a new fitted sheet onto his bed. She noticed he'd put his boxers back on. He turned to look at Annabeth, and she raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged and gestured to the balled up sheet in the corner, his eyes tracing her now-covered body. "Why're you wearing my shirt?"

"Why'd you change the sheets?" she mumbled back, climbing into bed to avoid awkward eye contact. It happened anyway, when Percy didn't move an inch. She shrugged. "I like your shirt."

"Oh. You bled on the sheets," he answered, scratching the back of his head. "Erm, do you want Advil or something?"

"No."

"Can I..." It took a second for Annabeth to realize that he was asking her permission to get in his own bed. She'd _really_ messed up. When she nodded, Percy turned out the lights and slipped in beside her. They'd never _not_ held each other the few times they'd slept in the same bed, and it was crushing to think he wouldn't. For a moment, everything was tense, the darkness suffocating.

Annabeth spoke first. "I'm sorry."

He exhaled loudly. "Annabeth -"

"It was really bad," she said quickly, and Percy snorted. "It was. But I should've known it would be. We have no idea what we were doing."

"That's for sure," he muttered. He looked at her, and she could see him relax a little bit. "It's okay. I wanted it to be good, too. For you."

"And you."

"It was," he said, chuckling. A moment passed before he shifted over and slid his arms around her, pressing his torso against her back. She tensed when his hands slid down her stomach. "It hurts a lot?"

"No." Her voice had become small as his fingers traced the edge of her - _his_ - t-shirt. "It's - it's just sore, really."

He nuzzled the back of her hair, fitting his head in the crook of her neck. She could feel his lips close to her ear as he spoke. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I shouldn't have blamed you." Her chest was constricting as she admitted it. "I was just upset. You were really good about it and all I did was throw it back in your face."

"You were being honest," he said. His breath tickled her neck and she turned around. He was genuinely smiling. "I mean, the honesty was a bit late, but it was honest."

"Shut up."

He laughed again before kissing her softly. "I wish you hadn't wanted to get it over with."

"It just… seemed like we should've done it before," Annabeth admitted. She outlined his collarbone with her finger, from his neck to his shoulder. "We've been through Tartarus. We've held up the sky. We've saved Olympus."

"And…" He poked her. "Everyone else has had sex?"

"That too," she said grudgingly, and Percy laughed.

"I can't imagine everyone's first time is amazing as people say."

She snuggled her head into his shoulder. "I know that now, I guess."

"We'll get better at it. I promise."

"Okay." Her breath hitched as his hands found the tops of her thighs, the sides, then the backs. She suddenly felt warm all over as he ran them across her skin, pressing her into his body. Percy kissed her neck under her ear, and she shuddered.

"Does that feel better?" he whispered.

"Yeah."

"What about…" He slowly reached under her shirt, pushing it up so it bunched at her breasts. She wondered if he could hear her heart pounding as he brushed his hands over her, exploring. _Or maybe he can feel it_, she thought as his lips pressed against her pulse point. "… now?"

"Yeah," she said breathlessly, clenching her eyes shut. Her fingers were clamped at his sides, squeezing tightly.

He kept on kissing and sucking at her neck until her shirt reached over her breasts. They leant apart for a moment so he could pull the shirt over her head, and then he immediately went back to kissing her. Percy was still hesitant in touching her, so she was surprised when she felt him immediately reach down.

He hadn't done that earlier.

But his courage had clearly been short-livid, since he paused and pulled his lips from hers to look at her. She couldn't quite identify his expression.

Annabeth bit her lip. "You can keep going."

"I, umm…" Percy was now blushing so hard, she wanted to feel his cheek to see how warm it had gotten. "I don't want to hurt you again."

She felt a rush of understanding. He hadn't gotten extremely upset at her rudeness, and she suddenly thought it had been because he felt too guilty to be so angry. And now _she_ felt guilty.

What if he just hadn't know what he was doing?

"It's not your fault," she said firmly. Annabeth took his hand in hers and guided it against her, rubbing gently back and forth. When she looked back up at him, she was suddenly aware of what she was doing and blushed furiously.

But Percy was smiling, so when she buried her burning face in his neck, she didn't feel as embarrassed as she thought she would've. She looped her arms around his neck as he took over, slipping his knees on either side of her hips. Clumsily, he climbed on top of her.

He touched her again, still hesitantly. "Is this how…?"

"Yeah." She bit her lip and forced herself to find his gaze, nervous and questioning. Suddenly, she gripped his shoulders again as she felt a sharp tingling.

Percy immediately stilled. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes," she said breathlessly. "Keep going."

She began to move against him. They were slipping into everything naturally, as if they were just making out in bed as they'd done so many times before. Getting lost in being together. But in some part of her brain, she was completely aware.

"Percy," she breathed, and he slowed for a moment. She could feel him pressing against her thigh, clearly turned on, and she gently touched him over his boxers. "Can I –"

"_Hell_ yes," he moaned, dropping his forehead onto hers. Annabeth slowly slid her hands under, carefully. She didn't want to hurt him, either.

They weren't hurrying to do it, like they'd done before. They'd been fighting monsters and been so busy saving the world that they'd forgotten to explore each other – physically, anyway. And maybe voice the things they'd been too afraid to say before.

Annabeth felt closer this way. Like when they were fighting together and it was as though they were thinking the same way. Or that time when she felt his Achilles Heel. Or even when they were just snuggling and watching a movie. They weren't having sex – she was a bit too sore for that again – but she felt like she was _with_ Percy. Together.

That's what intimacy meant. Maybe it wasn't as physical as she thought it was. Maybe it was their words in between, figuring it all out with each other. That was probably what all those shitty romance novels meant to say. That was probably what being ready meant.

And she definitely wasn't going to rush through that moment again.

* * *

A/N: Hope you liked it :) Let me know what you think in a review!


End file.
